• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Problem with slow hd in Dell laptp

D

DarkCyber

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 14, 2003
Messages
1,273
I have two Dell Vostrol 1500 laptops (yes older pc's). Here are the specs on the two:

Laptop #1
Intel Celeron M 540 1.86 GHz
1 Gig of DDR2 Ram
Fujitsu MHY2080BH 80 GB Hard drive 5,400 RPM
Windows XP Pro

Laptop #2
Intel Mobile Core 2 Duo T5270 1.40 GHz
1 Gig of DDR2 Ram
Seagate ST9160821AS 160 GB Hard drive 5,400 RPM
Windows XP Pro

Now, here is the problem. I know both computers are old and slow. But laptop #2 is very, very slow, even compared to laptop #1. I have run Avast AV on both, Malwarebytes, SpyBot S&D and everything is clean on both computers. I ran HD Tume Pro on both and here are the results from Read Benchmark mode:

Laptop #1
Min 27.0 MB/s
Max 46.7 MB/s
Avg 37.9 MB/s
Access Time 22.9 ms
Burst Rate 104.9 MB/s
CPU Usage 4.0%

Laptop #2
Min 0.1 MB/s
Max 1.9 MB/s
Avg 1.3 MB/s
Access Time 16.4ms
Burst Rate 1.9 MB/s
CPU Usage 39.1%

Now, my question. Why is Laptop #2 so much slower than Laptop #1? Even boot up and running AV scan from DOS boot up is very, very slow, outside of Windows. I have run disk health and checked the SMART on both pc's and everything checks out, no disc errors either. I am clueless. HELP! :rolleyes:
 
Defragged very first thing just forgot to put it in my op post and neither was fragmented very much.
 
Look at the difference in CPU usage. Get rid of whatever is hogging those CPU cycles.

The drive's not in PIO mode, is it?
 
Old Hippie said:
Look at the difference in CPU usage. Get rid of whatever is hogging those CPU cycles.

The drive's not in PIO mode, is it?
Click to expand...

It shows Current Transfer Mode = PIO Mode and right above that it shows DMA if available in the drop down box. When I click on the that drop down box the only options are DMA if availabe and PIO Only. So, how can I change it?
 
Old Hippie said:
I just got back.

I'm not sure what you tried but maybe you otta read this page to help ya out.

AFAIK, PIO mode is enabled when a HD is having problems.
Click to expand...

Oh you're just old and senile. :D

OP, have you disabled all startup items unnecessary on laptop #2?

One thing that would speed up performance would be to replace the HDD, if you have the funds.

Portable-class HDDs from 2006/7 were painfully slow, and modern 2.5" drives are much much faster and efficient.
 
Old Hippie said:
I'll teach you a lesson......soon as I find my cane! :D
Click to expand...

Not the cane! :eek:

433230-Cane-Reaching-To-Pull-An-Addicted-Caucasian-Man-Away-From-A-Computer-Poster-Art-Print.jpg
 
Well, I tracked down the problem and it turned out to be the OS was forcing the Primary IDE channel into PIO mode. I ran every kind of test on the hard drive and it has no problems/errors at all. I used these instructions I found http://forums.vso-software.fr/how-to-check-enable-dma-transfers-in-windows-xp-t2796.html and fixed the problem. I uninstalled the Primary IDE driver and forced Windows XP to re-install the driver and now have it on DMA mode.
 
DarkCyber said:
Well, I tracked down the problem and it turned out to be the OS was forcing the Primary IDE channel into PIO mode. I ran every kind of test on the hard drive and it has no problems/errors at all. I used these instructions I found http://forums.vso-software.fr/how-to-check-enable-dma-transfers-in-windows-xp-t2796.html and fixed the problem. I uninstalled the Primary IDE driver and forced Windows XP to re-install the driver and now have it on DMA mode.
Click to expand...

That's what has worked for me every time.
 
Thanks everyone for the help/suggestions. We all are getting older and need a little help :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top